Embrace Humility

Humility is a highly-valued virtue and is considered a strength in this island region. Again and again, partners fail to recognize that the perspective or expertise they bring is not the only knowledge that is valuable—and actually may be less valuable, or applicable, to the circumstances they are trying to help improve.

One of the quickest ways to be ignored, ineffective, or booted out of a community or country as persona non grata is to try to dictate an outside agenda with little regard for the community’s needs and realities. The tragedy is that this type of mistake is completely avoidable. Resist the illusion that you know more than the locals. Remember, before you came along, conservation was being practiced for millennia.